Riverview N.B., one step closer to building new $40M recreation complex

Shovels aren’t in the ground yet, but the town of Riverview, N.B., is one step closer to breaking ground on a $40 million recreation complex.

Mayor Andrew J. LeBlanc says it will replace the current aquatic centre in the town.

“We’ll have an eight-lane 25 metre pool, then we’ll have a separate leisure pool with that as well,” he said. “We’ll have a 200 metre padded walking path. We have a field house that’s going to go into it and then we’ll have a number of community spaces as well.”

The space will also be designed to be fully accessible.

“We did a lot of work to make sure that this project was going to be a regional one as well and looking at what other assets existed around the southeast region in Greater Moncton to make sure that it really compliments what’s out there,” LeBlanc added.

All three levels of government gathered at Mill Creek Nature Park on Monday morning to announce their financial investment into the new community space.

“[The] Provincial investment is $6 million, which is a significant investment, but it’s money well invested,” said New Brunswick Health Minister Bruce Fitch.

“When you talk about the recreational facilities in the community, it attracts people to that area and as minister of health it’s important to be active and have the services available.”

The federal government is providing more than $19.9 million and the Town of Riverview has put forward over $13.9 million.

While inflation has caused the price tag to increase, LeBlanc says he is confident that the current investment will get the project built, from start to finish, by 2026.

“One thing that we have in our favour is that we built in a cushion for the project right from the beginning,” he said. “So we’re quite confident we’re going to be able to adsorb any, if there are any overages, we’ll be able to adsorb that pretty easily.”

If everything goes to plan, construction could start as early as October.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said LeBlanc.

“We’ve been working on this for over a decade now and to be able to be here today and have the funding announcement and to know that we’re finally moving forward and we’re that much closer to construction, it’s an amazing feeling.”

Former Riverview mayor Ann Seamans was also in attendance Monday morning. She first brought the project forward back in 2012.

“This is the best day ever,” she said.

“It’s one of these things you’d like to see happen right away and at times you’d get really discouraged when you’d make a trip to Fredericton and come back with not good news, you know, ‘it’s not going to be in the works right now,’ but it was always hoping and always one of our priorities that we make it happen because we know that this is going to be really good for our town, the citizens of our town and the growth,” she added.

Although it took over a decade to get the project to this current stage, officials say the growth seen in the town of Riverview makes it even more important today than it was in 2012.

“The town is continuing to grow and continuing to expand, especially in this area, we’ve had a lot of growth,” said LeBlanc.

Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe Member of Parliament Ginette Petitpas Taylor is calling it a game charger for the area.

“We recognize that there’s a lot of growth happening, a lot of population growth, and with the population growth we need to make sure we have up to date infrastructure,” she said.

“With a complex like this, it’s certainly going to be one of those areas that’s going to attract people in the area.”

While there is still some work to be done before starting construction, like finalizing the schematic design, officials are calling it a good announcement for the entire community.

“This is a really exciting day for us,” said LeBlanc. “I wish we could start every Monday morning like this!”